Patriots are just the superior team on paper

[Viper652]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

 

[Bruins29]

The 07 pats were a better team than this one and the Falcons are a better team than the 07 Giants.

Look how that 07 Superbowl turned out with a a team better than the 16 pats losing to a team not nearly as good as the 16 Falcons. Gotta play the game.

 

[Wax Frog]

As I tried and failed to get through to a Rams fan after that first title, it's about being the better team that day.

 

[luuked]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

Bold plan to reduce everything down to cumulative regular season stats. Also, shows that you have no deeper knowledge into the various matchups and schemes of both teams.

 

[NE_Zealot]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

What a relief! Now I can save 4 hours on Sunday and do something productive in that span.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

Well defense win's championships. Let's see if they can finish the job. Need to slow down their wrs. The falcons will run but i expect them to throw more.

 

[MassPats38]

Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

Show me the Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era when the Pats won 'convincingly' and I will happily agree with you. The fate of the Pats seems to be great games, win or lose.

I hope you're right and this is the exception. All I want is the W, regardless of style points.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

This is not really called for, but I just love it so much...

 

[ivanvamp]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

The Falcons had one game all year where they scored less than 23 points. The league average is 22.8 this year. So only one game all year did they score less than the league average. Their offense is awesome, and it's been consistently awesome all year long. Moreover, it's explosive. Six times out of 18 games they've scored 40+ points. That's one out of every three games. That's phenomenal.

The Patriots under Brady had two games where they scored under 23 points. They hit 40 just twice.

So Atlanta's offense this year has been better. But not by a lot. And defensively it's lopsided, at least on paper. That doesn't mean that Atlanta couldn't play a good game, or that the Pats couldn't play a bad game. Just that on paper, the Pats' defense is significantly better than Atlanta's.

 

[Nikolai]

This post could have been placed in the Atlanta Defense thread, since that's the crux of it. We've beaten that horse to death.

If I wind up being bored enough this week, I'll do an in-depth analysis of the matchups and post something based on that.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I don't know if you can give ryan a ton of time. He might be the best QB we have played all year. He used to make mistakes. Not as much anymore. Pass rush

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

18-0.....ring a bell?

 

[QB12]

I'm telling you guys, I had a vision of Mingo blitzing the A-gap. Watch for that.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The 07 pats were a better team than this one and the Falcons are a better team than the 07 Giants.

Look how that 07 Superbowl turned out with a a team better than the 16 pats losing to a team not nearly as good as the 16 Falcons. Gotta play the game.

How you can say the '16 Falcons are better than the '07 Giants when they beat the '07 Patriots? It doesn't make sense.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

The Falcons had one game all year where they scored less than 23 points. The league average is 22.8 this year. So only one game all year did they score less than the league average. Their offense is awesome, and it's been consistently awesome all year long. Moreover, it's explosive. Six times out of 18 games they've scored 40+ points. That's one out of every three games. That's phenomenal.

The Patriots under Brady had two games where they scored under 23 points. They hit 40 just twice.

So Atlanta's offense this year has been better. But not by a lot. And defensively it's lopsided, at least on paper. That doesn't mean that Atlanta couldn't play a good game, or that the Pats couldn't play a bad game. Just that on paper, the Pats' defense is significantly better than Atlanta's.

Rewatching some plays from the Steelers game, it's clear that Rowe in man coverage is a liability. WR was unable to make a play in the end zone a couple times despite clearly having gained a step on Rowe because of a poor jam and insufficient catch up speed.

The Falcons WR seemingly make those plays - they've been doing it all season, as you pointed out.

I think it really plays to the Falcons' advantage to play from ahead in this game because it would seemingly force the ball away from Blount. I believe a very physical performance from Blount, Develin, Marty and the OL could make a giant difference in the game's outcome.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Rewatching some plays from the Steelers game, it's clear that Rowe in man coverage is a liability. WR was unable to make a play in the end zone a couple times despite clearly having gained a step on Rowe because of a poor jam and insufficient catch up speed.

The Falcons WR seemingly make those plays - they've been doing it all season, as you pointed out.

Depends on who the WR is. Rowe is fine on everything within 25 yds. As you say if hes on anyone on a streak route there is cause for concern....which is why Harmon will play a ton.

I think it really plays to the Falcons' advantage to play from ahead in this game because it would seemingly force the ball away from Blount. I believe a very physical performance from Blount, Develin, Marty and the OL could make a giant difference in the game's outcome.

I agree. I actually see Blount/D-Lew seeing 35 carries between them.

 

[Bruins29]

How you can say the '16 Falcons are better than the '07 Giants when they beat the '07 Patriots doesn't make sense.

Because up until the same point at that season (the same place we are now) those were the facts.

 

[bruce_w]

Pat's are 1 in defense and 3rd on offense. Falcons are 1 in offense and 27th on defense.

For starters, when has a team with a defense that weak won the Superbowl. Never.

Pats would have gone 15-1 with Brady. This Falcons team struggled to put up 15 points against the mediocre Eagles, so that can be done.
Given the added experience the Pats have they will win convincingly

I am with you on this bud. Actually a lot has happened to keep this team under the radar. Make sure you come back after the game to rub it in here!

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Depends on who the WR is. Rowe is fine on everything within 25 yds. As you say if hes on anyone on a streak route there is cause for concern....which is why Harmon will play a ton.



I agree. I actually see Blount/D-Lew seeing 35 carries between them.

Just saw Curran / Giardi tweet suggesting Rowe could get Jones. Seems to match up pretty well with how you described his skill set. Let Rowe cover underneath with safety cap.

 

[PatsBoy12]

That's why they play the game.